Carole Robinson, a veteran Viacom and MTV corporate communications hand who stepped down last year, is slated to join BuzzFeed as chief communications officer for the digital news and content provider.
BuzzFeed said this week it will split into two units, one focused on news and another centered on digital entertainment. Editor-in-chief Ben Smith leads BuzzFeed News.
Robinson, who has been consulting through First Look Media shop, will join the New York-based media property on Sept. 6, reporting to CEO Jonah Peretti.
She was executive VP of corporate and marketing communications for Viacom and held a similar role at MTV for five years.
Liz Wasden, a CBS and Facebook veteran, is VP of communications at BuzzFeed and oversees PR.
BuzzFeed Entertainment will by led by Los Angeles-based BuzzFeed Motion Pictures chief Ze Frank and will cover video, lists, quizzes and other "micro-content."
"Instead of organizing around a format or technology, we will organize our work to take full advantage of many formats and technologies," Peretti said in a memo.
BF in April cut its revenue forecast for 2016 in half to $250M after it missed 2015 revenues by 32 percent with $170M.
A $200M investment by Comcast last year pegged BF's value at $1.5B.
Why CEO visibility is no longer optional as a communications tactic.
The “waiting period” that was once set aside for CEOs to develop their strategies before facing media scrutiny may be better used for corporate comms leaders get to know their CEO and what his or her short-term priorities will be.
Senior-most communications executives in the Fortune 500 earned between $50,000 and $100,000 more this year than they did two years ago, according to a recent survey of chief communications officers.
